Bacher welcomes changes approved by ICC

Johannesburg: Ali Bacher, the executive director of the 2003 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa, has welcomed the approval by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to three changes, two of which affected the last World Cup in England. Bacher said these two changes were related to weather conditions that would prevail in South Africa when the World Cup is played here in 2003 in the months of February and March, which is peak rainy season. According to the first change, the ICC approved a reserve day for every match in 2003, while the second allows for the game to be restarted as a new game if the reserve day needs to be used, rather than as a continuation of the interrupted game. "We feel the reserve day game must be an entirely new game but it must be played along exactly the same lines. So, if the washed out game was a day-night game, then the reserve game would also have to be," Bacher told the daily 'SportsDay'. He said in England, if two sides were not able to face 25 overs each, and the game was postponed, it continued the following day where it had left off. Bacher believed this had led to "some very contrived situations." The third proposal from the 2003 policy committee that was accepted by the ICC was that Super 6 stage games be worth more than the ordinary pool games because of their importance. "So teams going through to the Super 6 will take their two points for wins against the other Super 6 teams through. But then every victory in the Super 6 will be worth three points," Bacher explained.